How to be a giant
By Bronwyn Wolfgang
People accepting awards often say that they stand on the shoulders of giants. Have you ever wondered who these giants are?
Dr. Uğur Şahin and Dr. Özlem Türeci are giants. You’ve probably never heard of them, but you may have benefitted from their decades of relentless work. The couple is physicians and immunologists who mostly focus on using messenger RNA technology to treat cancer. In 2018, their company BioNTech partnered with Pfizer to create a flu vaccine. Then in January 2020, Dr Şahin read an article in the medical journal The Lancet about a coronavirus that was spreading quickly in parts of China. He was convinced that it would explode into a full-blown pandemic. In response, scientists at the company cancelled vacations and set to work on what they called Project Lightspeed. In collaboration with Pfizer, BioNTech was able to create a vaccine against the virus an unprecedented 11-month timeframe, enabling many across the globe to protect themselves against COVID-19 quickly.
Giants are people who are going to do what they are going to do because they are on a mission. They are not lured by awards or money. Being a giant doesn’t mean that money or accolades aren’t nice to have, but they are superfluous. They pale in comparison to the real prize: solving a problem of far-reaching proportions. Drs Şahin and Türeci have made billions, yet they seem largely uninterested in it. They continue living in a modest apartment near their office with their daughter. They bicycle to work and don’t own a car. Dr Şahin’s family immigrated to Germany from Turkey when he was four. Dr Türeci’s parents immigrated before she was born. On the day they were married, Dr Sahin and Dr Türeci returned to the lab after the ceremony. They have always been clearly focused on solving significant problems related to immunology.
The world needs giants right now. Giants know that the best time to plant a tree is 30 years ago and the second best time is now. They are compelled to plant trees whose shade they will never enjoy. The world needs people who are ready to roll up their sleeves and go to work on solving problems for their children’s children’s children — people who will work tirelessly planting the trees (real or metaphorical) for people they will never know.
The way leaders are typically rewarded and treated doesn’t support these qualities. Instead, we celebrate leaders with money, awards and status. These are things that feed the ego and make it bigger. (Dive deeper into how ego is the enemy of good leadership here.) The system of rewards we built focuses attention on minutia. Minutia of one’s own status, the success of the company, maybe even one’s community. But the gaze stops there. It does not reach beyond this person, this company, this generation. Until now, this was enough — to lead a company, create value, and make a profit. We can’t fault leaders for being part of this system, but we can require something new of them from now on. Humanity needs leaders who can broaden their horizons beyond shareholder satisfaction to the very real problems we are facing including the rise of autocratic regimes, climate change, the collapse of biodiversity. This is where talented leaders could make a meaningful difference in solving problems for the world.
An emerging movement in leadership development called Perma Leadership provides a new framework to develop the leaders we need now. The first step in Perma Leadership is to connect and remember. In this phase, people learn to reconnect with themselves and the world around them using nature, Zen immersion, sensory training, and indigenous wisdom. This experience lays the foundation for leaders to see beyond the trappings of their leadership status and deeply ground themselves in who they are and what their place in the world is. It is from this place of connection, that leaders can begin to consider the great steps they and their teams could take to truly make a difference in solving a significant problem not just for their organization, but one that will have a far reaching effect.
The first steps in leading with a giant’s mindset are to reconnect and think beyond the vista of the corner office to what problems lay ahead for future generations and how you might start solving them today. Today is the best time to plant a tree for someone who will need one in 30 years.
Want to learn more? Start using Perma Leadership tools to help you and your team do the work of giants.
